Olympic dream alive and well in Whistler

Bill Demong of the United States jumps during day 3 of the FIS Nordic Combined World Cup on January 17, 2009 at the Whistler Olympic Park in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada.Photo by
Jonathan Ferrey

Up here, where the sun lights up the Callaghan Valley and the pine trees soar to the sky, it’s easy to believe in the dream.

Up here, the Olympic Village fiasco doesn’t seem terribly relevant.

Up here, there is no talk of rights infringement or cost over-runs or doping or any of the other detritus which accumulates in and around The Big Show.

No, up here, in this splendid setting, there are only the athletes and their sport and the sense of what is to come.

And that is a great thing.

We have heard enough from the functionaries who exploit the Olympic ideal.

Now we see what is pure and clean — relatively speaking — and worth celebrating.

“This is the opportunity of a lifetime, absolutely,” says cross-country skier Devon Kershaw, who finished 10th in the men’s 30-kilometre pursuit on Saturday. “Now it’s real.”

So real, in fact, you could close your eyes and imagine what will be in 13 months.

This weekend Vancouver/Whistler got its first whiff of what makes this festival so worthwhile and after the month-long drumbeat of the Olympic Village story, the timing of the test events couldn’t have been more opportune.

It helped that the athletes did their part.

On a Chamber of Commerce day, Canada placed three men in the top-12 of the 30-km cross-country pursuit on Saturday morning, led by Russian emigre Ivan Babikov’s sixth-place finish, before veteran Sara Renner placed sixth in the women’s 15-km pursuit later in the afternoon.

Along the way, the crowd of about 5,500 was given a taste of what’s in store at the Whistler Olympic Park, the site of the cross-country, Nordic combined and ski jumping competitions in 2010.

And after all the buildup, that taste was pretty sweet.

“We’ve been planning and we’ve had national team athletes and some international athletes here,” said Tim Gayda, VANOC’s vice- president of sports who’s been working seven years towards this weekend.

“But, until you run an international-level competition like this, you just can’t get that kind of feedback because you’re not in the heat of the moment. This is really why we do it.”

And why we watch. OK, in the interests of full disclosure, the men’s field — with 37 skiers compared to the normal 80 or 90 for World Cup races in Europe — was the cross-country equivalent of the Canadian Open field in golf.

The women’s field of 42 was stronger but only marginally.

“We got a gift here,” Kershaw opined. It should also be pointed out that the men’s race winner, the irrepressible Pietro Piller Cottrer from Italy, dumped all over the course in the post-competition press conference, claiming, among other things, it’s too easy, has too many curves and is too narrow.

But, on this day, these items were little more than entertaining diversions. The real storyline concerned something bigger; something about everything which was planned and promised and now feels, as Kershaw said, so real.

“Of course it feels real,” said the 26-year-old Sudbury native. “You look at the buildings. The course is in immaculate shape. But in a year and month there won’t be 37 (racers) here. There’s going to be the best in the world and they’ll be dreaming about the chance to show their best.” In the meantime, Saturday offered up a tantalizing preview.

There was 20-year-old Alex Harvey, who never placed higher than 46th in his three previous World Cup races, finishing 12th in front of the home crowd; there was Renner, the silver medalist from Turin, serving notice that she’s still a force after taking a year off to have a baby; there were athletes from all over the winter sports’ world coming to our home and bringing out the best in themselves and each other.

In the end, you hope that stuff stays with you longer than the other stuff the Olympics produces.

“It’s got a different vibe, West Coast casual I’d say,” Renner said, taken in the scene around her. “But it’s such a spectacular venue. It’s pretty special here.”

I shudder to think how much taxpayers’ money is being spent to defend Premier John Horgan and ...

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